I'm teaching rhythm. Rhythm is the most important thing to learn to sound clear. Really! It's the strangest language. All other languages take longer to say the more words you say. Not English. "Students liked my class." "Most of my students should have liked this class." There are lots of reductions: Shoulda, woulda, coulda!
We start with songs. I play them and they mark the stressed words: Every TIME i LOOK in the MIRror....All these LINES on my FACE GETting CLEARer...the PAST is GONE! Steve Tyler sang the original rock ballad in 1972!!!!!!!!! Really! It's still a great song. And imagine how clear those lines are in his face today!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia
Tuesday
A writer for the Brady Bunch wrote these three words one time and they forever resonate. Jan, the orthodontically-challenged awkward middle child was overshadowed by her pretty and popular older sister. The actress of Marcia, Maureen McCormick, wrote in her biography that to this day, people approach her and say that. All the time. And I hear it all the time!
Today I held a lunch for international faculty. We meet every week. I sent them a list of idioms from movies and television shows. So many come from the Wizard of Oz. "Gee, Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." One woman who's lived here a long time agreed that my list was accurate. She explained when we say "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia". Your friend is so pretty and perfect and you're sick of it. Other idioms included "You had me at hello." "There's no place like home." "Show me the money!" "English is easy, NOT" and references like "Webster is like Mayberry!" and "My in-laws are the Cleavers!" Post more below!
A writer for the Brady Bunch wrote these three words one time and they forever resonate. Jan, the orthodontically-challenged awkward middle child was overshadowed by her pretty and popular older sister. The actress of Marcia, Maureen McCormick, wrote in her biography that to this day, people approach her and say that. All the time. And I hear it all the time!
Today I held a lunch for international faculty. We meet every week. I sent them a list of idioms from movies and television shows. So many come from the Wizard of Oz. "Gee, Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." One woman who's lived here a long time agreed that my list was accurate. She explained when we say "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia". Your friend is so pretty and perfect and you're sick of it. Other idioms included "You had me at hello." "There's no place like home." "Show me the money!" "English is easy, NOT" and references like "Webster is like Mayberry!" and "My in-laws are the Cleavers!" Post more below!
Is English a tonal languae?
Monday
Chinese is a tonal language. That means the slightest inflection changes the meaning of the word. If you pronounce "ma" going down, up, up and down or flat, you have said four different words. English is not considered a tonal language. However......85% of the message is how you say it. Other languages like Russian just change the word order for emphasis. We use focus stress and lots of it. Normally we stress the last important word in a sentence. "I took chemistry in high school." If I say " I TOOK chemistry in high school" and I really apirate that t, that means I don't remember a thing! And I don't!
SO...where am I going with this? I had a job, a paying gig, to teach American people how to speak on the phone. (This really awesome IT firm hires me to help their non-native employees sometimes.) After going over intonation and focus stress, I had them read statements for tone, like sarcasm, enthusiasm, defensiveness, confidence, insecurity, etc.
I asked a young woman to read the sentence "Why didn't you return my phone call?" I assumed since she was a native speaker she would emphasize phone. I asked her to sound concerned. Instead, she said "Why DIDn't you return my phone call?" with did falling down at like a 75 degree angle slam. That sounded angry. She repeated it with the same word stressed, did, but rounded it, like a circle. Then she sounded concerned. The same word was stressed and not even the appropriate word, but that change in inflection completed changed the tone.
Chinese is a tonal language. That means the slightest inflection changes the meaning of the word. If you pronounce "ma" going down, up, up and down or flat, you have said four different words. English is not considered a tonal language. However......85% of the message is how you say it. Other languages like Russian just change the word order for emphasis. We use focus stress and lots of it. Normally we stress the last important word in a sentence. "I took chemistry in high school." If I say " I TOOK chemistry in high school" and I really apirate that t, that means I don't remember a thing! And I don't!
SO...where am I going with this? I had a job, a paying gig, to teach American people how to speak on the phone. (This really awesome IT firm hires me to help their non-native employees sometimes.) After going over intonation and focus stress, I had them read statements for tone, like sarcasm, enthusiasm, defensiveness, confidence, insecurity, etc.
I asked a young woman to read the sentence "Why didn't you return my phone call?" I assumed since she was a native speaker she would emphasize phone. I asked her to sound concerned. Instead, she said "Why DIDn't you return my phone call?" with did falling down at like a 75 degree angle slam. That sounded angry. She repeated it with the same word stressed, did, but rounded it, like a circle. Then she sounded concerned. The same word was stressed and not even the appropriate word, but that change in inflection completed changed the tone.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Spelling and Vowels
Spelling in English is very irregular, which makes pronunciation very hard to learn. I usually teach pronunciation of vowels by where they are pronounced. Those pronounced with the tongue forward are: /iy/ meet; /I/ mitt; /ey/ mate; /E/ met and /a/ mat. To me, it makes since to teach them this way so they they can differentiate between the confusing sounds, which are close to each other. (beach/bitch is a bitch for them; too/took; cup/cop; and pen/pan).
Today a student asked why the first i in the word "Titanic" sounds like /ay/ and not /I/. It hit me!!! I can now simplify spelling and pronunciation explaining them the way I was taught as a child!
Vowels are usually pronounced either the short or the long sound. We were taught as kids the long and short vowel sounds: A and a, E and e, I and i, O and o, U and u (which can sound like put or putt). The short o, which sounds like AHHH, is confusing for my students because they learned British pronunciation. The letter o is always pronounced long /ow/ as in so or /AH/ as in popular. The only exception I can think of is the word women, in which the vowels both sound like the short i. I once knew a lesbian who spelled women as wymyn, omitting the men, and this is how my students can remember the pronunciation.
Today a student asked why the first i in the word "Titanic" sounds like /ay/ and not /I/. It hit me!!! I can now simplify spelling and pronunciation explaining them the way I was taught as a child!
Vowels are usually pronounced either the short or the long sound. We were taught as kids the long and short vowel sounds: A and a, E and e, I and i, O and o, U and u (which can sound like put or putt). The short o, which sounds like AHHH, is confusing for my students because they learned British pronunciation. The letter o is always pronounced long /ow/ as in so or /AH/ as in popular. The only exception I can think of is the word women, in which the vowels both sound like the short i. I once knew a lesbian who spelled women as wymyn, omitting the men, and this is how my students can remember the pronunciation.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
I went there for having fun
A student from Brazil taught us definitions from his field, Public Policy Administration. He explained, "A policy needs to change for a new policy." I corrected him that "change to" is what he meant. "TO" is direction towards: "I am married TO John, divorced FROM Vladimir." "For" is a purpose, why we do something. "I wrote a letter TO Jack FOR Jill since her hand was broken."
This lead to another problem Spanish and Portugese speakers have. They often use a gerund after a preposition, which makes sense since prepositions are followed by nouns. However, it is awkward to follow them with gerunds. "I went there for having fun." "I went there for fun OR to have fun" (the infinitive is a reduced form of in order to.) I don't know why gerunds don't work. We use them after prepositions in other constructions. "I am good at swimming." "I look forward to meeting your mom."
After FOR seems okay in this question: "How much money do you get for teaching part-time?" Maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm losing my ability for judging the English.
This lead to another problem Spanish and Portugese speakers have. They often use a gerund after a preposition, which makes sense since prepositions are followed by nouns. However, it is awkward to follow them with gerunds. "I went there for having fun." "I went there for fun OR to have fun" (the infinitive is a reduced form of in order to.) I don't know why gerunds don't work. We use them after prepositions in other constructions. "I am good at swimming." "I look forward to meeting your mom."
After FOR seems okay in this question: "How much money do you get for teaching part-time?" Maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm losing my ability for judging the English.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Likability
What makes one teacher likeable and another not? I mean, beyond bringing food and not giving homework..haha. Seriously, students are not motivated by a teacher that they can't relate to. It's more than just good teaching, lesson plans, strong activities.... Too much intonation, not enough intonation, (who can take a monotone voice?) approachability, personability but not too much, liking them, encouraging them...My kid says she needs some compliments with all the criticism and for them to smile in a way that is sincere. Another teacher claims it's important to read their body language and gage your lesson accordingly or even surprising them with a 20-second stretch break. Humor helps. Please post any comments!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Two tribes of people
My reading class is reading a juvenile novel, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." It is absolutely hilarious and poignant. My students are mostly from China, Saudia Arabia and Korea in this class, so we write a lot about cultural differences, etc. One thing that came up in the discussion is the relationship between men. In Korea and Saudi, men touch. They can put their arms on each other's shoulders. In Saudi, they even hold hands. (I'm not sure if most of the men I know in the U.S. even have close friends.) My students know that they can't touch a man here or everyone will think they are gay. Isn't it ironic that the country with the most rights for gays in some ways is the most homophobic?
Anyway, the kid in the novel is living between two cultures, native American and white American. There is this great line: I used to think the world was broken down by tribs. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."
Anyway, the kid in the novel is living between two cultures, native American and white American. There is this great line: I used to think the world was broken down by tribs. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."
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